Red Umbrella
by selfexplanatori
Summary: Lisanna suffers from a severe incident that occurred at a younger age. She is crippled and has a limited time to live, and Natsu is heartbroken.


Her time was almost up, Natsu remembered it clearly. He spent every free moment with her. He felt weak, useless. He cried all the time because of her. There never seemed to be enough time with them, and all those years had gone by in a flash. He didn't know her very well in the beginning until the fateful encounter with the red umbrella. He was trying to read with what he knew, saying that Igneel did teach him how to, but everyone teased him for being terrible at it. So, he got up and left in the middle of a raining day. He stayed to himself, not wanting to talk to anyone until one person decided to cheer him up. They were best friends and had been for a very long time. But one day, Natsu was going on a mission with one of the guild members while leaving her behind when they planned to play that day. When he got back.. well, it wasn't pretty. She was at their playhouse, alone, and then monsters attacked her. She was defenseless, and Natsu forever blamed himself for leaving her.

This girl was Lisanna.

She had been injured terribly to the point where she was almost dead, and then she had such serious damage to her internal organs that the doctors said she had a year to live before everything gave out on her. That day was today, and Lisanna was slipping in and out of it. Natsu stayed with her every moment that week in the hospital, forcing that smile and struggling not to cry at her weak state. He held her hand in his. It was so cold. She seemed like at any moment she would just slip away from his grasp forever. The white-haired girl was so delicate-looking, and he knew in a few hours it would all be over. So, he did something for her and she didn't object. In fact, she didn't say anything as all as she was too frail to do so. He stripped off all the life support from her body and took her out of the bed and gently lifted her up, carrying her on his back.

He took her straight through the building slowly, not minding the stares and ignoring the shouts of doctors to put her back. She was so light and delicate, like a little white rose. It was raining, so on his way out, he took one of the umbrellas by the door before leaving, holding it with one hand and keeping Lisanna balanced with the other.

The umbrella was red.

* * *

The dragon slayer walked a long time in silent mourn, all the way to a certain destination, one he hadn't been to in a very long time. It was to their little hut. It was nothing but a pile of straw now, which only brought back cruel memories of what had occurred the year before. It was about six in the morning at this time, and the rain was starting to lighten up. He bit his lip, feeling prepared to sob, though he held it in. He dropped the umbrella as the rain stopped and sat in the mud, hugging Lisanna's body closely. She was only somewhat alive, but was slipping fast without the life support. She looked at him with a dull set of blue eyes, smiling weakly.

"Lisanna.." Natsu whimpered.

The clouds cleared rather quickly, in time to see the sunrise. It was so beautiful, and what the takeover make always loved to see. It was her favorite sight, and it was Natsu's too. She stared at it, still smiling. She smiled to the very end.

"Thank you…" was all she said.

Then, she went limp to indicate that Natsu could begin to grieve. He brought her as close as he could, tucking his face into her hair, begging for some sort of warmth or life as he cried. He wasn't prepared to let go, he was never prepared to. Memories flashed through his mind of every single day when they were together. They had been through so much and now she was gone. He would never see her smile again, never feel her warmth, never hear her laugh. It was gone forever and it was his fault. He thought he would never get over it, and it took him a long time to cope.

So he cried. He cried and cried and didn't stop until he had no more tears to shed.

* * *

The church bells rang at the burial, and it was raining hard. Everyone was quiet besides the few silent sobs that could be heard from various members. Everyone had a black umbrella and was dressed in black clothes. This was partially correct for Natsu, though his umbrella was not black to indicate death. His was red, to indicate his friendship with her. As everyone stayed back, Natsu approached the grave silently, smiling softly though tears streamed down his face. He held out his umbrella, hovering it over her grave.

"You're welcome."


End file.
